John Roderick on Song Exploder

Submitted by The Long Winters on February 5, 2015 - 1:00am

John Roderick was a guest on Song Exploder, where he talked about his song The Commander Thinks Aloud from the Ultimatum ep, in honor of the last flight of the Columbia. Song Exploder is a podcast hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. The interview was recorded with a live audience.

Just wanted to let you know that a couple of nights ago I stumbled upon the podcast where John Roderick talks about 'The Commander Thinks Aloud'. It was the middle of the night - I often wake up and I've been using Stitcher podcast app as a way to listen to things while I try and fall back to sleep. I didn't know about Song Exploder, or The Long Winters. But occasionally i listen to whatever Stitcher puts in the feed. That's how I heard the podcast. And it totally blew my mind, as I dozed in and out of waking/sleeping. Its been with me since, just fragments of the story and the song surfacing at odd times - but I couldn't remember the name of the band or the song. So this morning I finally googled "space shuttle disaster song" and "breaking up" (being the lyric fragment that had burrowed most deeply into my mind). And I was thrilled to find a WikiPedia entry which gave me the name of the band, the song etc.
I bought the song on iTunes and am listening to it now, in awe.
Thank you for the amazing work.

Yes, yes yes yes, this exact episode changed how I see music forever. I've listened to it many times, and have since then dug myself in deep with interest in John Roderick. I'm glad it affected someone else the same way.